


somewhere beyond right and wrong, there is a garden (meet me there)

by Spoon888



Series: After Life [1]
Category: The Transformers (Cartoon Generation One), The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Community Service, Established Relationship, Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, Megatron's Second Chance Is Starscream And A Crappy Apartment, Post War AU, Some Minor Jealously, angsty fluff, house arrest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 15:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18720172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoon888/pseuds/Spoon888
Summary: Peace brings change, and not all of it good. Megatron is given the second chance he was never expecting. It's far from perfect, but it's more than he deserves.





	somewhere beyond right and wrong, there is a garden (meet me there)

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Rumi.

Peace hadn't been an easy thing to broker. There was a time when Megatron thought it impossible, that he would be fighting till the very end. That he would find death before compromise. But his circumstances, like his principles, had changed over time.

The battle at Six Sisters, a ring of gaseous moons in Messier, had changed things. After cycles of bloody death and battle, Starscream fell on the front lines of the third Sister, taken out of the sky by orbital bombardment. Megatron had realised, looking down at Starscream's battered, wheezing frame as medics frantically worked to save his spark, that there was a limit to what he was prepared to give for a victory.

His life? Maybe.

Starscream's?

Prime accepted his offer of a truce, though his self congratulating underlings quickly called it a surrender. Everything afterwards had been a mildly humiliating whirlwind of events. There was still fighting. He was arrested. There was a trial. Decepticons were pardoned. He wasn't.

There was another trial. Then another. Followed by an attempt on his life and a brief stint in prison, with an equally condemned Starscream right there with him, just two cells down.

Deliberate, he'd assumed. Close enough to hear him, but never see him, touch him.

Those hard months ended with _another_ trial, with an 'impartial' Prime speaking on his behalf, and a recently paroled and completely biased Starscream spouting enough lies on the stand he was almost arrested all over again, until _finally_ -

"House arrest." He said blankly.

"Home incarceration." Prowl corrected, looking mutinous over the ruling. He unsubspaced a datapad and near _flung_ it at Megatron. "Subject to conditions."

Megatron glanced over them, spying one that made his spark sink. "No contact with known criminal associates." He read. "Including Starscream?"

"Yes." Prowl glared.

"No." A deep voice announced from the door, and Megatron's shoulders squared at the sight of Prime. The very mech responsible for his situation.

" _Prime_." Prowl began argumentatively.

"We cannot bar Megatron from seeing his own conjunx endura." Prime said from the doorway.

"They're not conjunxed." Prowl argued.

 _That_ was only because they had been in and out of custody for the last how many years. They hadn't so much as spent a night together since the end of the war. Megatron opened his mouth to sneer such a statement in Prowl's scowling face, when Prime cut him off.

"Victims of circumstance." Prime clasped his hands behind his back and surveyed the dingy little holding cell with characteristic majesty. Cool blue optics landed on Megatron. "Starscream tells me your conjunxing ceremony was delayed due to an injury he sustained at Six Sisters. Then, of course, you were both arrested."

Megatron's denta ground together at Prime's flippancy, but it was good. It masked his surprise at what he'd said about this imaginary ceremony that had been delayed. He should have expected it. Starscream had done nothing but lie since their arrests.

Then he took stock of what Prime had actually just said.

" _You've_ spoken with Starscream?" He realised, and the idea made him uncomfortable. "Why? Why would Starscream speak with you?"

"To have his conjunx released from prison." Prime said pointedly, brow arched. Megatron scowled at his tone. "He's waiting to see you."

Megatron couldn't hold his scowl after that. And he swore Prime looked smug behind that mask when he stood, energy cuffs humming, "Let me see him."

"Not yet." Prowl said, reminding him he was still present. He removed another little something from his subspace. A chip. A tracking chip.

"No." Megatron snarled, veering away.

"I understand your reservations Megatron," Prime said gently. "But this is simply to enforce the conditions of your incarceration."

"If I refuse?"

Prowl looked pleased, "Then you will remain chip-free in a cell on a distant moon."

And never see or feel or hear Starscream again?

He sunk back into his seat, "Fine." He hissed.

The sting of the chip being entered into his circuits wasn't anywhere near as discomforting as the wave of humiliation that followed. Four million years of war to earn him this. A tracking chip and a life in shackles.

Prime made an approving noise and moved to the door. Megatron thought he was leaving, and got ready to offer him a sarcastically vulgar farewell, when instead he stepped back from the doorway to allow someone through.

A white shoulder leant against the doorframe, red hip cocked. Starscream made a show of studying his claws before looking up and smirking.

"My thanks, Prime," he purred, optics locked with Megatron's. "Ready to come home, Jailbird?"

Megatron's spark felt weak, and his glossa heavy. "Home?" He murmured.

Starscream's smirk widened. "Whose apartment did you imagine you'd be carrying your sentence out in? Prime's?"

It was a joke, but Prime's optics flashed. Megatron paid no mind, because by now Starscream had strutted across the room, snatched the electronic keys from Prowl's hand, and remotely unlocked the cuffs from Megatron's wrists.

Megatron lifted his freed arms just in time to catch the seeker vaulting over the table at him, heavy and warm and sharp and all over him.

Prowl kicked the table and stomped out, and Prime mumbled some embarrassed excuses about having to be somewhere else _right now_.

Megatron didn't notice, too busy kissing Starscream for the first time in years.

 

* * *

 

  
Megatron was surprised to learn Starscream's residence was in Iacon, not Vos. He had heard through word of mouth that what had remained of his Air Force had returned to their ancestral home. He had assumed Starscream, once free, would have joined them.

The apartment he brought Megatron too was small and humble, but leaps and bounds ahead of the places he had once stayed in; as a miner, as a gladiator, even as a revolutionary. It was warm and bright and clean, a little cluttered with how much stuff Starscream had somehow accumulated since his release, but suitable. There was even a balcony.

Starscream threw open the doors to let a breeze in. Megatron joined him, fresh air and natural light having become something of a novelty.

Their apartment wasn't particularly high, so the view wasn't anything worthy of poetic inspiration, but neither was it hindered by glowing bars or blocked with steel walls. He could hear the traffic outside, smell the fumes of a fast developing city. He could live with it.

"Welcome to your new prison," Starscream joked, lifting is arms in presentation. "There's no storage space, the walls are thin, and the neighbour's berth upstairs creaks loudly when they interface, but at least the company's good."

Megatron looked into Starscream's apologetic smile. "It is far better than I had feared."

Starscream nodded, "You have Prime to thank for that."

Megatron's mood turned, "Prime?"

"Real estate in Iacon isn't cheap." Starscream said condescendingly, "My assets were seized when they arrested us. I had been staying with my trine in Vos, but Thundercracker drew the line at letting you share the berth too." He smirked, "Skywarp was up for it though."

"So we're living off Prime's charity?"

"For now." Starscream didn't seem bothered. Megatron wondered where his sense of pride had gone. "At least until I finish my community service."

Starscream shuddered at just the thought of it. Most community service was being directed towards rebuilding the city. Starscream had neither the build nor attitude for manual labour, getting dirty, _or_ taking orders. (Megatron wondered who suffered more, Starscream, or whoever was charged with minding him on any given day.)

He moved behind Starscream and slid his arms around him, pulling him flush to his front. He felt wings flutter against his chest, a familiar sensation he'd missed. Starscream unfolded his arms from his chest, letting them fall to cover Megatron's.

Megatron dropped his chin to Starscream's shoulder, turning his head to push his mouth against his audial, humming as he breathed him in. He didn't smell the same as he once had. Gone was the decadently expensive polish, replaced with a cheaper substitute.

It was different. Everything would be different now, he realised.

Starscream pressed back against him, lips parted and optics dim, murmuring, "No one can see us up here."

Megatron doubted that. They were only on the fifth floor. He wasn't going to mark his first day of (relative) freedom with headlines of him having been caught doing 'illicit things' to his former second-in-command in public.

He walked backwards, back into the cramped apartment, dragging Starscream with him.

They had a berth. It was small but neat. Starscream must have made it specially for his return because Megatron couldn't ever recall finding a made berth when he'd visited Starscream's quarters aboard the _Nemesis_.

They fell to it with a thumb, Starscream's gasp of surprise stopping short at the dangerously loud creak the berth frame made.

"...I'm not sure this berth is built to withstand you." Starscream whispered, brushing their noses together. "Maybe we should take the balcony after all?"

"Well I'm not sure Iacon is ready to hear the noises I'm about to draw out of you." Megatron caught Starscream's wandering hands and pinned them to the berth, twisting his hips to wriggle them between Starscream's thighs.

Starscream grin was mischievous, "I think I am."

Megatron kissed him. Starscream exhaled into it with a sigh, frame sinking into the berth as he relaxed. Megatron settled over him, feeling the tension in his own frame melt away as Starscream's thighs squeezed around his hips.

They made love on the lumpy berth, in their one room apartment given to them by their worst enemy, with neighbours banging on the wall and the open balcony doors bringing in a draft as darkness fell. It couldn't compare to the nights they'd spent on the _Nemesis_ , in the utter seclusion and luxury of the command quarters.

It couldn't compare, but it was perhaps the best night Megatron had ever had.

 

* * *

 

The sky outside had been bright for some hours when Megatron cracked an optic open to find himself staring at a homely but outdated wall, rather than the bars of a high security cell. Starscream was spooning him from behind, clinging close to his back, claws drawing patterns across his chest. He had missed him a great deal it seemed.

He grunted a greeting, turning and lifting an arm so Starscream could slip under it. He did, diving in for a kiss Megatron wasn't awake enough to properly return. He tolerated Starscream's affections tiredly, lifting a hand to the small of his back and patting him comfortingly.

He was rather bemused Starscream even had the energy to harass him, given how they'd both been up most of the night. He glanced at his chrono, and realised it was close to midday.

"Don't you have community service?" He grumbled, wincing when Starscream's claws dug in possessively.

"So?"

"You'll be arrested again."

Starscream didn't appear to care.

"And I will be stuck here alone."

Starscream's head finally lifted from his neck, optics petulantly bright. "I really have to go?"

Megatron nodded sympathetically, giving him an encouraging pat on the thigh to get him going. Starscream lingered long enough to plant another three indulgent kisses on him, before having to be bodily _pushed_ out of Megatron's lap and off the berth.

When Starscream made to recover ground, Megatron held him at bay with a pede. "Don't-"

His threat was interrupted by a chime. He glanced around in confusion before realising it was the door. A visitor? He couldn't imagine they'd be luckily enough to have a friend calling. He hadn't thought he'd had any left, after the ceasefire and the arrests that had followed.

Starscream didn't seem too surprised by the caller, abandoning his play to reclaim the berth to answer it. Megatron slid out of berth curiously, letting the cheap thin insulation cover flutter to the floor.

Starscream had opened the door and was speaking to someone stood in the hallway. Megatron recognised the baritone immediately.

"Prime!" He snarled, swiftly crossing the room to insert himself between the Autobot and his lover.

"Good morning, Megatron." Prime said pleasantly enough.

"Don't 'good morning' me, Prime," Megatron snarled, ignoring Starscream's attempts at trying to wriggle out from behind him. "What do you want?"

"Me!" Starscream snarled, managing to get out from under his arm.

"What?"

"Starscream is late for his community service." Prime said smugly. "Clearly, _someone_ has been distracting him."

Megatron wanted to argue that _he_ had been the responsible party trying to get Starscream out on time, but defending his reputation wasn't his most pressing concern. "And the Prime picks up tardy convicts personally, does he?"   
  
"Ex-convicts," Prime corrected. "And I do when they happen to be my friends."

Megatron's processor blipped. He found himself unable to speak when Starscream slipped past with a impatient scoff and an apology to Prime for his mate's behaviour. He stretched onto his toe pedes to press a loud kiss to Megatron's left cheek, giving the other an affectionately patronising pat goodbye. 

"Take care, Megatron." Prime offered over his shoulder, already walking away with Megatron's mate.

Megatron lingered at the threshold his tracking chip wouldn't allow him to cross, and could do nothing as he watched the two mechs that should have been sworn enemies, walk side by side, like old friends.

 

* * *

 

There wasn't much for him to do in the hours Starscream was away. He couldn't leave, and anyone who might have wanted to visit him either hated him, was in prison, or was barred from seeing him anyway.

He decided to distract himself from whatever Starscream was doing and his worries over his newfound friendship with Prime by taking in more of his apartment. He hadn't had much time to look around last night before he had become distracted by how pretty Starscream had looked out on that balcony.

There wasn't much to see. The apartment was one large room, hadn't been redecorated since before the war, and had minimal furniture. Just the berth, and one short, stiff looking sofa. There was a cupboard sized wash room in the corner, which wasn't much more than a shower head and a drain in the floor. Megatron knocked his shoulders against every wall when trying to turn in it. It would take some getting used to.

The many boxes stacked up in towers all around the room seemed filled with Starscream's paraphernalia. Megatron opened one curiously and found it full of glass. Beakers, tubes, science-y looking things.

He wondered if Starscream would ever be allowed to study again. He'd always been more suited to study and science than he had fighting, whatever he might claim.

After rifling through several boxes he was surprised to find something familiar. Datapads. His own. His favourite reading materials and some of his own work. Starscream must have had someone secure his possessions after his arrest, or had taken time to track them down so they'd be here by the time of his release.

He was suddenly struck with a thought, that Starscream might have spent the last six months of freedom just sitting around waiting for him?

 

* * *

 

Starscream came home through the open balcony, flying across the room and knocking over no less than three towers of stacked boxes, sending their contents clattering across the floor with smashes and thunks.

Thinking he was an incoming missile, Megatron tried to deflect his approach with a punch, before releasing the high pitched ' _schree_ ' was Starscream himself. He dutifully allowed himself to be tackled over the back of the sofa with little more protest than a bark of "Starscream!"

"So, you're 'friends' with Prime now, are you?" Megatron asked later, crammed into the end of the sofa, Starscream's thrusters lifted onto his shoulder to use as a footstool.

"He's a means to an end." Starscream shrugged.

"And what end would that be?"

Starscream didn't answer.

"War's over, remember." He said. "You _surrendered_. Maybe you should give Prime a rest. It's time you looked for a new arch enemy." He tossed a Cosmic Curl into his mouth, munching on it loudly.

"A 'new' arch enemy." Megatron glared at him. "It's about to be _you_ in a minute. And I didn't surrender."

"That's not how I heard it." Starscream knocked the side of his helm with his foot. "It sounded like it ended as soon as I wasn't conscious to stop you."

"So you resent me too." Megatron realised he shouldn't have been surprised. The only mech that might have wanted galactic domination more than him was Starscream after all.

But again he earned a shrug, Starscream sliding further down the sofa, letting his helm hang over the arm rest as he stared at the wall. "I've always resented you. But not for that."

Megatron patted his pede gratefully. Starscream kicked him again.

"We need to buy a holo-screen." Starscream said, tossing a Cosmic Curl at Megatron. It pinged off his head. "Or you'll die of boredom up here."

"I was planning on reading. Since you were kind enough to locate my library."

Starscream cheeks might have brightened, but he hid it behind his bag of Cosmic Curls, tipping it upside down and emptying it's entire contents into his mouth. Most of them fell to the floor.

"Well I want a holo-screen at least." He said with his mouth full. "I'll be spending all my nights here with you. What else is there to do?"

Megatron let his hand slide down Starscream's ankle, moving it down the blue of his thrusters to the warmer, more sensitive white armour. Starscream stiffened, swallowing the rest of his Cosmic Curls loudly.

"Oh, I don't know." Megatron purred, thumb brushing over inner thigh armour. "I can think of a few things."

 

* * *

 

The next evening Starscream came home with the promised holo-screen. And _Prime_ , carrying it.

Megatron swiftly snatched it out of the Autobot's hands. He had little responsibilities in this tentative household he and Starscream had established, but he was sure furniture rearrangement was _his_ job. And he wasn't about to let _Prime_ encroach on it.

Starscream didn't even notice the intense staring contest they had entered into, striding into the apartment and talking to himself as he considered where best to put the new screen.

"-I think here," he heard Starscream say. "As soon as these boxes are moved aside."

Prime broke the contest to join Starscream, undoubtedly to be the 'hero' who moved said inconvenient boxes first. Megatron juggled the screen and tripped over another box in his attempt to catch up and look just as helpful.

"Thank you, Optimus." Starscream said pleasantly, the use of Prime's first name sending a lighting strike of burning jealously through Megatron's frame. He looked up to see the sycophantic Autobot being directed by Starscream.

"Why is Prime here?" He demanded.

Starscream stopped mid sentence, blinking at him. "He brought the screen."

Megatron suddenly didn't want it.

"It was nothing," Prime reassured, "It's an old model."

"We don't want your handouts." Megatron snarled, dropping to screen atop the nearest available surface heavily.

Starscream made a worried noise, rushing over to check it was alright. He cared more about the slagging screen than he did his mate.

Prime lifted a pacifying hand, "Megatron there's no need to-"

"Out." Megatron interrupted darkly. "Get out of my home."

Prime probably could have argued back that he actually owned the apartment he was being evicted from, but it seemed he neither had the energy nor desire to argue. He sighed deeply, sounding pained. He gave Starscream a curt nod before leaving out the door.

Good riddance. Megatron glared after him- until an open palmed slap was dealt to his arm.

Surprised, he looked down into Starscream's furious face.

"First you try and break the screen and then you chase off my company?!" Starscream hissed.

"Bad company."

"Optimus is a friend."

"He is not-" Megatron cut himself off with a furious noise. He could almost feel steam coming out of his olfactory. " _Stop_ calling him _that_."'

"It's his _name_." Starscream glared.

"I don't know what sort of reprogramming the Autobots have put you through, but _Prime_ is _not_ your friend."

"He's the only friend we have."

" _We?!"_

"How the frag do you think you got out of prison?! Did you think any of this was easy?" Starscream stepped back and opened his arms wide, gesturing to the crappy little apartment. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to get this? To get you? You think people were lining up to help you?"

Megatron couldn't imagine they were. "...You can't expect a mech like Prime not to have ulterior motives."

Starscream looked skywards, having lost the energy to argue. "I'm going to recharge. You can take the sofa."

Megatron watched Starscream stamp across the room and throw himself on the rickety old thing. He imagined if there had been a door separating the sleeping arrangement from the living room, Starscream would have slammed it.

He looked down at the tiny stiff sofa, and sighed.

 

* * *

 

"Megatron."

Someone was nudging him awake. It didn't take much to rouse him, given how fragging uncomfortable he was. Before he became fully conscious, he thought he was still in a prison cell. Only the berths there were this uncomfortable and strut breaking.

A delicate touch removed the arm he'd flung over his head. He winked his optics online to see the dark outline of a seeker.

"Starscream." He mumbled, shifting, and realising the reason for his discomfort when the sofa springs groaned beneath him.

His wrist was pulled. "Get up. Get in the berth."

Megatron sat up, absently wondering why he wasn't _already_ in the berth. He resisted Starscream's tugging when he began to recall their argument

Starscream tutted, pulling on both wrists. "Just come back to the berth-"

Megatron used his greater weight to his advantage, refusing to budge, "Starscream-"

"I don't want to argue again." Starscream whined. "It's the middle of the night. You're an idiot. You're sorry. We'll forget it. Now let's go back to the berth."

Megatron gave one last tug, and with a stumble, Starscream landed heavily on his thigh. Megatron sat up and kept him there with an arm about his waist. Starscream didn't fight him off. Megatron heard him sigh.

Neither of them said anything for a while. The apartment was almost quiet for once. The neighbours asleep, the traffic outside minimal...

It made breaking the silence harder.

Megatron wanted to- he wanted to just _talk_ with Starscream. He wanted to tell him how he was struggling. He had thought- he had _hoped_ for better than this. To be better than this. He had no purpose. No freedom. And he had no one to blame but himself.

He'd hoped his resentment would recede with his release, that his loneliness would end when he had Starscream again. He was frustrated, he was stressed, he was worried. None of this was what he had wanted.

"I-"

"I know," Starscream whispered, cupping his face. His optics were startling against his blue-tinged face from the artificial streetlights shining through the balcony doors. Megatron looked into them and saw a reflection of his own fears shining back at him.

"...But you didn't have to freak out like that over a holo-screen." Starscream couldn't help himself it seemed.

Megatron tilted his head out of Starscream's grasp. "You shouldn't trust Prime."

"When did I say I trusted Prime?" Starscream laughed lightly. "I don't trust anyone."

"Me?" Megatron reminded him, bouncing him on his thigh, lightly, playfully.

"You? Primus, no," Starscream snorted. "If I trusted _you_ , we'd have been executed as war criminals by now. And rightly so."

Megatron hummed thoughtfully.

"Face it," Starscream whispered, "You do not have the political mind to survive in this new post-war society."

"I'm more of a politician than you."

"You're a more _honest_ politician." Starscream corrected, "But I'm the better one. And I've always prided myself on my ability to convince people not to kill me. Even if I deserve it."

"Especially if you deserve it." Megatron rumbled affectionately. Starscream smirked, because he knew it was true.

He stood, and Starscream screeched when he found himself being hoisted up into his arms, bridal style. "Well I can think of one thing I excel in over you."

Starscream wriggled to make himself comfortable, legs kicking out and knocking over a box as they walked. Something smashed. Neither of them looked back.

"Snoring?" Starscream guessed.

Megatron let him drop to the berth heavily. The frame creaked and something pinged, but it remained in one piece. "Stamina."

Starscream barked an incredulous laugh and hooked a leg around Megatron's, using it to roll and flip their positions. Megatron could have resisted, but he found he didn't want it. Starscream sat across his hips and widened his wings. One of Megatron's favourite views.

"Who said you could be on top?" He challenged anyway, hands on Starscream's hips, thumbs running across seams.

"My apartment, my rules."

"It's Prime's apartment."

Starscream arched a brow. "Oh, you wanna comm him and ask his opinion on who's allowed to top?"

Megatron tightened his hold on Starscream and flipped them again. Starscream cursed, and tried to push back, but he just wasn't strong enough. Megatron smirked down at him. "New Cybertron may be a diplomacy, but this berth isn't."

Starscream huffed a breathless laugh and Megatron kissed smiling lips, long and slow, fingers on Starscream's warm cheek, hands brushing over the back of his helm.

This life wasn't perfect, and the future didn't look much better. But he had Starscream, and that was enough to make it worth it.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Optimus comes round every weekend for 'Traditional Vosian Tea' and Megatron eventually manages to limit himself to one insult per visit. Progress.


End file.
